


And Into The Battle We Come Again

by flipflop_diva



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Adventure, Crossover, F/M, Prophecy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-28
Updated: 2014-05-28
Packaged: 2018-01-26 21:33:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1703306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/pseuds/flipflop_diva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The war is over. Voldemort is gone. All Harry wants to do is enjoy his happy ending — and maybe figure out his feelings for Hermione. But all of that is put aside when two strangers show up at Hogwarts unannounced and another prophecy is uncovered. A new threat is coming, one that threatens to destroy the wizarding world and the Muggle world, and now Harry and Hermione will have to work with these two strangers, who they aren't sure they can trust, to save the world again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This was started for a big bang in June 2013, but I lost steam and real life went crazy and I never finished it. Then I found the WIP Big Bang on LJ, and here we are. Amazing artwork by avosaur [here](http://yavosaur.tumblr.com/post/86984138058/no-rest-for-the-weary-a-collection-for).

Chapter One  
[HARRY POTTER]

Harry was dreaming.

He was in what looked to be some sort of cave. It was large and dark, and the air had a musty scent to it like it hadn’t been graced by fresh air in years. He could see the jagged outlines of what looked like large boulders all along what must be the sides of the cave.

The cave was deathly silent except for the very shallow sound of breathing coming from the three people next to him. Hermione stood to his right, clutching his hand, her fingers soft and warm in his. To his left were two other teenagers Harry didn’t know but he felt as though he should trust them and that they were on his side.

As far as he could tell, there was no entrance and no exit to this large tavern, but Harry felt as though they should move forward, as though the answer to his questions lay before him.

He took one small step forward, tugging Hermione’s hand. She moved along with him, as did the other two teenagers. As his eyes adjusted to the light, Harry could make out that it was a boy and a girl. They looked to be about his and Hermione’s age.

The four of them kept moving forward, one small step at a time. Nothing happened. The dark cavern loomed before them as silent and still as before.

One step.

Then another.

Then another.

Then another.

Without any warning, a bright white light filled the cave. Harry barely had time to throw his hands up over his eyes, but it didn’t help. The light seemed to be searing into his brain.

To his right, he heard Hermione cry out, a sound full of pain and terror and despair.

Harry tightened his fingers around her hand. But it was too late. Her hand was ripped out of his, as though something had pulled her.

He heard her scream, but he couldn’t move, couldn’t see.

And then the ground beneath his feet began to move. As though the very dirt they stood on was beginning to rise up on its own.

Harry felt himself slipping, the light searing into his brain, Hermione’s screams echoing in his ear.

Beside him, Harry heard the boy shout, “Harry! Now!” but it was too late.

Harry was falling, and there was nothing there to stop him.

 

•••

“Harry?”

A hand on his shoulder caused Harry to jerk awake. His eyes flew open as he started upright in bed, gasping for air.

“Harry!”

He turned his head.

Hermione, dressed in her night robes, was sitting on the edge of Ron’s bed, staring at him, concern and panic across her face.

Harry blinked, and ran his hand across his face, wiping his eyes.

“Errrr, ummm …” he started. His head hurt, as though the light from the dream had actually been penetrating into his brain.

“You were thrashing around in your sleep,” Hermione said.

Harry shook his head to try and clear his thoughts. “It was just a dream,” he said. “It was nothing.”

He ran his hand through his hair again.

“What are you doing in here anyway?” he asked. “You’re not supposed to be here …”

She smiled wryly. “Who’s going to stop me? No one else is here.” She waved her hand around and Harry followed its path.

He closed his eyes. Of course no one else was here. Just eight short hours ago, he had finally killed Voldemort, right there in the Great Hall in front of all his surviving friends. 

It was all over. Everything. Seven years of fear and horror and anger and a need for revenge.

All ended with the point of a wand.

His wand.

He leaned over now and picked up his wand, lying on his bedside table, right next to the Elder Wand. It was hard to believe it was really over.

Images of his dream flashed through his mind. The blinding light. Hermione’s scream. Hermione’s hand warm and soft in his.

He scrunched his eyes.

“Harry?” Hermione asked again. She sounded so worried.

He forced himself to look at her. “Don’t mind me. Why aren’t you with Ron?”

“I, ummm …” She glanced down, her hand unconsciously going to the sleeve of her robe. “It didn’t feel right. He’s with his family.”

Harry frowned. “I’m sure he’d want you there.”

“I’m sure he’s okay without me.”

Harry wanted to press it, but he didn’t. After all, he had disappeared from everyone the night before, taken refuge in his room with only his thoughts. So many people dead and hurt. So much of the castle destroyed. He knew in his head it wasn’t his fault, and that many more people would have died if not for him, but in his heart, the guilt was heavy.

He glanced at Hermione. She was still playing with the sleeve of her robe.

Maybe he wasn’t the only one who felt guilty. 

“How did you know I would be here?” Harry asked her, more to break the silence than anything.

She shrugged. “Where else would you be?”

Harry nodded. Where else indeed? This was his home. A little damaged, a lot worse for wear, but it was still home. He sighed. Part of him wanted to stay locked up in the tower forever, far, far away from the grief and the misery down below, but he knew that he couldn’t.

“Let’s take a walk,” he said to Hermione, and she nodded in agreement.

•••

It was better and worse than he imagined it would be. In the bright sun of June, the horrible destruction was evident. Chunks of the castle were missing, pieces of walls had fallen down, statues were knocked over, stairs were crushed. It had been a war zone, and it looked like one.

The Great Lawn looked trampled, the bright green grass scarred with muddy trails where people had fallen. A few trees had fallen over, and blocks of stone from the castle lay haphazardly around.

They had purposely avoided walking by the Great Hall. Hermione had told him the bodies were being removed, being sent to families for proper burial, but Harry couldn’t bear to see the ones that remained lined up there. The guilt was already staggering enough.

Outside, the clean-up process had already begun. Students, professors, townspeople were already working on one side of the castle, magicking through stone and piecing it back together. 

The Great Lake sparkled in the sun, the water clear and blue. In the distance, the Forbidden Forest edged the property just as it always had.

Harry looked up. The sky was clear, just blue as far as the eye could see. The Dark Marks were gone, their power vanished.

He and Hermione found themselves at the Quidditch pitch, far enough away from everything that they couldn’t see the destruction, the process of rebuilding just a faint hum in the background. Harry knew he should be over there helping, but he was still tired, his brain still processing everything that had happened the past few months. And then there was his dream.

“Should we talk about it?” Hermione said suddenly. They were sitting on the bleachers, just staring out the silent pitch.

Harry turned to her.

“My dream?” he asked, frowning.

“Not that,” she said. She raised an eyebrow at him.

Understanding passed through him.

“It didn’t mean anything,” he said quickly, the same thing he had said the past thirty-two times she had tried to bring the subject up. Not that he was counting.

“It meant something to me.”

Harry turned to her. That wasn’t how this script was supposed to go. 

“It didn’t mean anything to me either,” was what she was supposed to say. Because Ron was his best mate and his brother had just died and his family was in more pain than one family should be in and Harry should not be adding on to that pain in any fashion.

“You don’t mean that,” Harry said, his voice low.

“Maybe I do,” she said.

Harry sighed. “Ron is my best mate.” Maybe if he said the words out loud …

“I know.”

“Fred died last night.”

“I know.”

“It was just one snog. It should never have happened.”

“Don’t say that!”

Her voice suddenly rose an octave, and his head snapped to look at her. Her eyes were almost flashing in anger.

“Hermione!” he said in frustration. “What has gotten in to you?”

He couldn’t figure it out. She was the one who had pushed him away, she was the one who had said they couldn’t do that, she was the one who had rebuffed him when he tried again. And then she brought it up every time they were alone. And every time she brought it up she ended up telling him that she was with Ron.

He couldn’t figure it out. He knew girls were confusing, but this was Hermione. And she was still glaring at him as though he were the most horrible, awful person she knew.

“You’re the one who said no!” he almost yelled.

“That was before you almost died last night!” 

He blinked. She gasped a little, as though she couldn’t believe she had actually said that.

“Errrr,” Harry didn’t know what to say. “So that changes things then?”

Hermione shrugged and look away from him, lifting her hands to study her fingernails instead. “Maybe it does,” she mumbled.

Harry wanted to say more, a lot more actually. His head was spinning. The war, Voldemort, comforting Hermione after Ron left, dancing with her in the tent, snogging her in the moonlight, pretending it hadn’t meant anything when nothing had ever felt like that before, Ron coming back, Dobby dying, breaking into Gringotts, fighting Voldemort, learning the truth about Snape and finally that stupid dream that would not leave him alone. And now this.

Yes, there was a lot more Harry wanted to say. But he wasn’t going to get the chance.

Across the Quidditch pitch, a blonde girl and a brown-haired boy were running toward them.

“Errr, Hermione?” Harry said.

She turned to look. They both stood up, hurrying down the bleachers to meet Luna and Neville. Neville was panting slightly, but Luna looked liked she just finished a peaceful stroll.

“What’s going on?” Harry asked.

“There, uh, … there, uh …” Neville tried through pants. Luna took over.

“There is something we think you need to see.”


	2. Chapter 2

[HARRY POTTER]

Harry and Hermione followed Luna and Neville back across the Great Lawn. Harry thought they were going toward the castle, but instead the two veered left and headed more toward the Forbidden Forest.

Harry cast a glance at Hermione, but she just shrugged, and they continued after their friends.

Harry’s mind was working overtime as they went. All he could hear were Hermione’s words replaying over and over and over in his head. 

_“That was before you almost died last night!”_

Harry wasn’t sure what exactly she meant by that, but he also wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He wasn’t really even sure what he felt himself.

She was his friend. His _best_ friend, apart from Ron, of course. He liked to spend time with her. He liked to be near her. And yes, he had loved snogging her that cold winter night in the Forest of Dean. But Ron … Ron was his best mate, and Ron adored her. Ron was her maybe boyfriend. Being with her would cause so many complications.

_“That was before you almost died last night!”_

Her voice sounded in his ear, worried and scared. Her hand, in his dream, warm and soft and safe in his.

He was so busy worrying about what he may or may not feel for Hermione he didn’t notice Luna and Neville had stopped until he ran straight into Luna.

“Ummpphh,” he mumbled as he regained his balance. “Sorry, Luna.”

Luna didn’t seem bothered. Instead she pointed ahead of her.

Harry had to squint to see what she was pointing at, and then he saw. Lying on the ground, under the cover of an old oak tree, were two figures, completely still.

“By Merlin!” Hermione whispered, concern lacing her voice. She darted forward toward the two and crouched down beside them. Luna joined her. Harry watched as they checked for breathing and touched their foreheads with the backs of their hands.

Hermione looked up. “They’re alive,” she said, “but I’ve never seen them before. They aren’t Hogwarts students.”

Harry and Neville moved closer toward the girls.

“Oh my wizard.” Harry felt like his whole body was frozen, numb with shock. The other three looked curiously at him, but all he could do was stare at the boy and the girl unconscious on the ground. They both looked to be around seventeen or eighteen. The girl was on the small side, with long blond hair. Her hand was clasped in the hand of a boy with dark hair and a thin, almost gangly build.

It should have been impossible, but Harry was one hundred percent certain — the two teenagers on the ground in front of him were the two teenagers from his dream, the two he knew he should trust.

“Harry?” Hermione asked him softly. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I feel like I have,” Harry said and he quickly told them about his dream, leaving out most of the details of what actually happened in it, but he told them about the cave and the two other kids with them.

“It was them,” he said, pointing at the two on the ground. “They were the two in my dream.”

Neville frowned. “Are you sure? Maybe you’re just thinking that because these two are here now.”

“No,” Harry shook his head. “I am absolutely sure.”

Hermione was still studying the girl and the boy. “Where did they even come from?” she asked. “Could they be related to someone here?”

“I don’t know,” Harry said, “but we should get them checked out.”

Neville glanced back at the castle. “I’m not sure there is much available help,” he said slowly.

Silence filled the air, all four of them, for a moment, caught up once more in the pain of all they had lost.

Luna broke the quiet first. “Harry is right,” she said, “We can’t leave them here.”

“Why don’t we take them back to the castle and see what we can do?” Hermione said. 

In the end, that’s what they did. Using _Wingardium Leviosa_ , Hermione and Luna lifted the two strangers into the air, and the four of them floated them back to the castle, careful to surround them to shield them from others. Not that anyone was looking. Those out on the lawn were too busy with repairs to notice, but Harry didn’t want to take any chances. He was absolutely positive these two were the two from his dream, and no matter what the others thought, he knew it couldn’t be a coincidence.

They decided to take them to Gryffindor Tower. It would be the safest for them, considering the whole rest of the castle was filled with students and families and friends, rebuilding or grieving for lost loved ones. Harry had a sneaking suspicion that Ministry officials — those who were left anyway — would soon be arriving as well, and he wasn’t sure he wanted them to know about the two strangers until they had had a chance to suss out what they were doing here in the first place.

Gryffindor Tower, as expected, was empty. They laid the boy and the girl down on separate couches and covered them with blankets. Neville hurried off to find tea and perhaps a professor they could trust.

“Be careful who you tell!” Harry warned him before he left, and Neville had nodded.

“I know all about keeping secrets,” Neville had said as he hurried off.

Almost as soon as Neville had left, Luna had followed suit. 

“I know something that can help,” she had said, and without further explanation, she, too, disappeared, leaving Harry and Hermione alone with the two strangers.

“They don’t look like witches or wizards,” Hermione finally said, breaking the tension in the air.

“No,” Harry agreed. Neither the boy nor the girl had a wand with them, or at least not as far as Harry could tell. They weren’t dressed in robes either. Instead, both of them were dressed in ragged old jeans, old dirty tennis shoes and bright orange T-shirts that read “Camp Half-Blood. “They don’t look British either.”

“American, I think,” Hermione said. She frowned. “I wonder how they got here.”

Harry shook his head. “They’re from my dream, Hermione,” he told her. “I know they are.”

She cast a glance at him and he saw something in her eyes he couldn’t decipher. She pursed her lips.

“What else happened in your dream?” she said. 

“Errrr …” He tried to not meet her eyes. He really didn’t want to tell her, but yet he didn’t want to lie either.

“Tell me,” she said, and he found himself unable to resist her. 

He told her about the cave, how it was so big and so dark, and how they started to walk, slowly inching forward. He explained how he felt her being pulled away from him, how he couldn’t do anything to save her.

“And then the ground gave way,” he said. “And I was falling. There was nothing I could do to save either of us. And that’s when I woke up.”

He couldn’t read the expression on her face. She just looked at him, almost studying him, then she glanced down at the girl lying still unconscious on the couch.

“It was just a dream,” she said.

“No, it wasn’t,” Harry said.

“Do you think it was an omen then?”

“Errrr … I don’t know,” he said. An omen? Foreshadowing? He honestly didn’t know. He wanted to hope to Merlin that he never would know, but the fact that the two strangers from his dream were now draped across the couches in the Gryffindor Tower Common Room made him think that was a fruitless hope.

Harry and Hermione didn’t talk much after that. There was a lot Harry wanted to say to her, a lot he wanted to ask her, but now wasn’t the time. 

Neville returned first, with two steaming cups of tea.

“Madam Pomfrey says she’ll be up in a little while,” he said, then added quickly. “She’s the only one I saw who I trust and wasn’t …. errr, busy,” he said. He looked quickly down after that, and Harry knew what he really meant. She was the only one not in a perpetual state of grief.

He sighed. He and Hermione had successfully avoided the Weasleys all morning, but he knew he was going to have to see them soon, going to have to face them and his own guilt. He just wasn’t sure he was ready for all that yet.

Luna returned a few minutes later. In her hands was a small purple plant that seemed to be swaying back and forth.

“My father said the seeds have the best healing properties of any living creature,” she said as she handed the plant to Neville. “You could put them in the tea.”

She then settled in a chair across from the blonde girl, almost as though she was keeping watch. 

Harry looked around at his friends. Hermione settled herself on the floor by the couch and Harry took a seat next to her as Neville prepared the tea.

“It should stay hot for awhile,” he said, and he slumped on to the floor to join Harry and Hermione.

•••

It felt like hours that the four of them sat there in the Gryffindor Common Room, staring at the unconscious strangers and each other, no one talking or moving or doing anything else at all except breathing. Harry wasn’t used to sitting still for so long, but he didn’t know what else to do. He couldn’t talk to Hermione with Luna and Neville so close to them. The professors he trusted most were injured or dead. The family he considered his own was downstairs mourning Fred, and he couldn’t intrude.

All he _could_ do was wait.

The girl began to stir first. She shook her head and moaned a little. Hermione was the first one to her feet, rushing over to the girl’s side, tea in hand. 

“Here, drink this,” she commanded when the girl’s eyes had fully opened and she was blinking at Hermione in confusion.

Harry wasn’t sure he would have drank a cup of something some stranger he had never met offered him, but the girl took the cup and swallowed down the hot liquid.

Her eyes flitted around the room as she drank, first to Hermione, then Luna, then Neville, then to the boy she had come with still lying motionless on the couch opposite her and finally they landed on Harry, where she continued to stare for a few minutes as she sipped on her beverage.

Finally, she put the tea down and cleared her throat.

“You’re Harry Potter,” she said. Harry blinked. It didn’t seem like a question. And somehow it didn’t surprise him as much as it should have.

Harry nodded at her as Luna, Neville and Hermione all shot him a quick look.

“How do you know that?” Harry asked her.

The girl smiled. “We were supposed to come find you. But …” she trailed off, her eyes scrunching up as she concentrated, “I don’t remember how we got here.”

“Wait,” Harry said. “Go back. You were supposed to find me? Who are you?”

The girl shook her head, like she was trying to clear her thoughts.

“Oh,” she said, “forgive me. I’m Annabeth. Annabeth Chase. That …” She pointed to the boy on the couch …”is Percy Jackson.”

The names meant nothing to Harry.

“You look like a Muggle.” Luna spoke up from beside Harry. Harry had almost forgotten she was there.

Annabeth frowned. “A Muggle?” she repeated.

“Wait,” Harry interrupted. “I don’t understand any of this. How did you even get here? Who are you? What by Merlin’s name is going on here?”

Harry wasn’t sure if Annabeth was going to answer him, but it didn’t matter. On the other couch, Percy moaned, and a few seconds later, his eyes flew open and he shot upright.

He stared around the room for a second, a flicker of fear crossing his face, until his eyes landed on Annabeth and he instantly visibly relaxed. 

“Here.” Hermione shoved a cup of tea at him before he could speak. “Drink this. You’ll feel better.”

Percy complied. Harry watched as Percy’s eyes met Annabeth’s. They seemed to be having an entire conversation between them without saying a word. 

Harry pressed his hand to his head. None of this was making any sense.

“Now, tell me again,” he said once Percy had finished the tea. “Who are you two? And where did you come from?”

Percy glanced once more at Annabeth. Harry saw her nod, then Percy turned back to Harry. Harry watched as Percy’s eyes took in Harry’s scar. Harry had the urge to reach up to his forehead and cover it up.

“You’re Harry Potter,” Percy said. “We found you.”

“Errrr, it looks like it,” Harry said.

“Found him for what?” Hermione demanded. She had been perched next to Percy administering the tea but now she moved over to Harry, as though she were personally going to protect him from whatever harm Percy and Annabeth were intending. Even though Percy and Annabeth — so far, at least — didn’t seem to intend any harm.

“We need your help,” Percy said.

“You need _my_ help?”

Percy and Annabeth both nodded.

“With what?”

They glanced at each other.

“We’re not exactly sure,” Percy said.

“You need my help for something you’re not sure about?” Harry repeated.

Both Percy and Annabeth nodded again. Harry frowned.

“You’re not magical, are you?” Harry asked. There was something about these two he couldn’t put his finger on, but the fact that they were Americans — now that they spoke he knew it for sure — wasn’t the only huge difference between them.

“Not in the way you think,” Annabeth said.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Hermione demanded.

Again, Annabeth and Percy glanced at each other.

Finally, Percy spoke.

“We’re demigods,” he said. The word hung in the air. Harry racked his brain but he was pretty sure he had never heard the term before. Beside him, Hermione looked as confused as the rest of them.

“We’re part human, part god,” Percy continued.

Harry almost laughed.

“Part _god_?” Neville repeated. “Like Budda?”

“No, Greek gods,” Percy clarified. “I’m the son of Poseidon, Annabeth here is the daughter of Athena.”

Harry wanted to snort, to burst out into peals of laughter, except there was a weird feeling brewing in the pit of his stomach.

“The Greek gods are just a myth,” Hermione said quietly from where she still sat next to Harry.

“So are witches and wizards,” Annabeth countered.

Harry didn’t know how to argue with that, but children of Greek gods? Sure, he saw things every day he could never have explained in his Muggle life, but children of Greek gods?

Only Luna didn’t have a look of disbelief on her face.

“Yes,” she said, as though someone had asked her a question, “I’ve heard of you.”

Hermione was frowning at Percy. “How can be we be sure you’re telling the truth?” she demanded.

“Well, um ….” Percy looked at Annabeth. He seemed at a loss for words. 

Before he could come up with any, the portrait of the Fat Lady was thrown open.

All six of them whirled around to stare at the entrance. For an instant, Harry expected to see a Death Eater come flying through. Or maybe even Voldemort himself. But instead, Sybill Trelawny came stumbling through, her robes a colorful swirl around her, her hair flying every which way on her head. She looked more out of sorts than normal, but as soon as she saw Harry, her eyes seemed to narrow it on him.

It gave Harry a very bad feeling.

“Harry Potter!” Professor Trelawny cried. “I have been looking for you!”


	3. Chapter 3

[PERCY JACKSON  
One Day Earlier]

It was the best summer of Percy’s life. For the first time, he didn’t have to worry about disappointing his mom or flunking out of yet another school or wondering why he didn’t fit in. It wasn’t like his first few summers at Camp Half-Blood when he was the outcast with no friends. Nor was it the following ones with monsters at every step. He wasn’t betraying his friends, his friends weren’t betraying him, no one seemed in imminent danger.

He was left, for the first time ever, to just enjoy summer. 

And he was. Very, very much so.

He and Annabeth spent almost all their time together, down by the lake or just wondering the woods, practicing archery and wall climbing. Now that they were together, he was the happiest he had ever been. Just being able to hold her hand or kiss her when we wanted was amazing. They hadn’t gone any further than kissing, but Percy was okay with that. Just being with her was enough. He was happy.

Which of course meant that trouble was on the way. He really should have been smart enough to see it coming but he wasn’t. He never was.

It started at dinner. He had noticed when they walked in that Chiron and the other camp counselors looked a little worried. But they always looked a little worried, and Percy and Annabeth had just had the best day, relaxing in the ocean, being pushed along by various sea creatures. They had even floated down to the bottom and kissed for awhile, a little reenactment of the day they officially became a couple. So worried looks on people’s faces were of no consequence to him that night.

Halfway through dinner, Rachel Elizabeth Dare showed up, walking into the dining area in her blue sweatshirt and jeans, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. She didn’t even bother to flash a smile Percy’s way before heading up to the main table and engaging in frantic whispered conversations.

That should have been another sign. But of course it wasn’t. Rachel always came on Friday nights, and she had said she was coming the week before, so her presence alone didn’t indicate trouble. And Percy was far too busy making eyes at Annabeth over his hamburger to really put much stock in the fact that Rachel didn’t look like she was just here for a friendly visit.

There was supposed to be a bonfire after dinner, with songs and s’mores and one of the cabins had been working on a reenactment of something or other. Percy wasn’t sure. He was just looking forward to spending the evening with his friends and eating junk food.

But as he sacrificed the last remnants of his plate into the fire as a thank you to the gods, he heard a noise behind him and felt a hand on his shoulder.

“We need to talk,” Chiron said. “Get Annabeth.”

The followed Chiron to the Main House, Rachel tagging along, too (again, that should have been a sign, but Percy was still convinced that nothing was going to ruin his summer and he was not about to dwell on any less than positive thoughts). He held Annabeth’s hand as they walked and stared at the stars glinting above, the lights of the cabins down below and the ever swaying of Thalia’s fleece up on the hill.

He sighed as they walked, still content and happy with his life.

Until they entered the Main House and were ushered into the Rec Room, taking seats at the table, and Chiron opened his mouth and began speaking.

“We have a problem,” he said, and all of Percy’s summer dreams came crashing down.

“What problem?” Annabeth asked.

Chiron cast a glance at Rachel. She was sitting straight upright, her hands clasped in front of her, her gaze calm, but now that Percy looked closer, he could see there was a bit of worry in her eyes. 

“We’re not sure yet,” Chiron admitted. “But Rachel has seen something.”

The worry in Rachel’s eyes grew stronger as they all turned to her. She nodded.

“A prophecy?” Annabeth asked.

“More like a vision,” Rachel said. “I’m not sure what it means yet, but I feel like there is very dark magic involved. A magic far different than anything we have ever seen before.”

“The Titans? Or some of their offspring?” Percy asked, but Chiron and Rachel shook their heads.

“A different sort of magic,” Rachel said again.

Percy frowned. He wasn’t sure what that meant.

Chiron spread his hands in front of him.

“There is something you should know,” he said.

•••

“Okay, wait,” Percy said, staring at Chiron in disbelief. “You’re trying to tell me that witches and wizards are _real_ and that there is a whole society of them living amongst us that we don’t know about?”

He scratched his head, trying to take that all in.

“I don’t know why it’s that surprising,” Annabeth said matter of factly. “We’re an entire society of demigods that people don’t know about, along with a whole host of monsters.”

“But,” Percy said, “people with magic wands and who fly on broomsticks and stir potions in cauldrons? That’s, like, stuff you see in movies!”

“So are people who are the children of gods,” Annabeth said, and Percy scowled.

“I have not seen that in any movie,” he muttered. He loved Annabeth, he did, but sometimes Percy wished she didn’t know as much as she did. How could she so easily be okay with this? But the idea of witches and wizards and magical schools where people spent time learning to cast spells and turning teacups into rats … it just seemed like something from another world.

Annabeth had turned back to Chiron. “So you think that whatever this dark magic that has been released into the world is that it has something to do with these people?”

Chiron nodded. “Yes. We have word that one of the most powerful dark wizards was just defeated a few hours ago. We think the circumstances surrounding his death might have unintentionally caused a chain reaction.”

“So we need to find the wizard responsible for this and .. what?” Annabeth said. “Work with him to stop whatever it is that is happening now?”

Chiron sighed. “I am afraid I don’t know the answer to that question,” he said. “Rachel has only seen that there is a dark force rising, and the gods are not much help in this area. There is some magic they cannot control or see.”

“If these people are so powerful,” Percy piped up, “then why can’t they just deal with this dark force thing or whatever on their own?”

Chiron smiled at him. “You know that is not how it works,” he said. “Rachel sees the visions and we must obey them. We cannot always question how it goes.”

Percy sighed. “I just wanted a nice, relaxing summer.” He turned to Rachel. “Are you sure it was Annabeth and I you saw in that vision?” Maybe Rachel had been mistaken. Maybe there was some other demigod who just looked like him.

No such luck.

Rachel shook her head.

“I am sure,” she said. “You and Annabeth must go. You must find this boy, this Harry Potter. You must work with him.”

Percy scowled. “Fine,” he said.

Annabeth nudged him in the ribs, but Percy saw she was smiling. “I have always wanted to see real spells up close!” she said. Percy had to refrain from rolling his eyes. This didn’t seem like it was going to be a relaxing, explore magic type of vacation, but more of the fight for your lives variety. Though he guessed actually seeing that type of magic would be pretty cool.

“So do we need a quest then?” Percy said to Chiron.

The old centaur nodded. “We have one,” he said, nodding to Rachel. Annabeth and Percy turned to her. Rachel nodded at them, then closed her eyes. When she opened them, they were the pale white of the muse speaking through her, her own bright blue eyes lost for the moment.

She began to speak, the voice emanating from her not her own but that of an old, wizened being who had seen too much.

_New and old shall join together_  
Four shall venture, to now or never  
The darkest one not easily found  
A fate is sealed, lives unbound. 

_A young wizard, a scar he bears_  
Will face the beast if only he dares  
But gods and wands shall work as one  
Only then will the curse be undone 

The room was silent. Rachel’s eyes shut. When she opened them again, her normal blue had returned.

“It came to me last night,” she said solemnly.

“A young wizard, a scar he bears,” Annabeth repeated. “That’s the boy we need to find?”

Chiron nodded. “Yes,” he said. “That’s the one.”

“And how do we find him?” Annabeth asked.

For the first time since they had entered the rec room, Chiron’s eyes dimmed slightly. 

“That you must figure out on your own,” he said. “But I believe you need to get to London.”


	4. Chapter 4

[PERCY JACKSON]

“How are we supposed to get to London?” Percy asked Annabeth. They were sitting by the shore, staring out at the sea.

Percy kept waiting for someone to pop up behind him and shout “Haha! Got you!” This had to be some kind of prank, right? Somehow they needed to get to London, then find a society of witches and wizards that were able to remain hidden from the entire human population and then find one wizard in this society who maybe had some sort of scar?

Sure, that sounded simple. He’d get right on that.

Instead, Percy put his head in his hands, trying to think. They couldn’t very well fly. Sons of Poseidon and air travel did not mix. He might as well just offer himself up to the dark force on the spot if that was going to happen. 

They could try the ocean, but London was thousands of miles away. That didn’t seem very safe, and they didn’t have a vessel. They could try pegasi, but again, thousands of miles away. Percy was pretty sure that was a little too long for a horse ride.

Honestly, London might as well have been in another galaxy for as hard as it was going to be to get there.

Percy turned to Annabeth.

“Any ideas?”

She shook her head gloomily.

Above them, thunder rattled in the sky. Percy looked up. The blue sky had disappeared almost instantly. Now, the sky above was a mix of gray and frosty white. He frowned. Normally, weather didn’t affect Camp Half-Blood, but even as they sat there, he could feel the winds picking up. 

A burning hot drop of rain splattered on his arm.

“What the hell?!?!” 

He jumped up, his hand instantly covering his arm. And then he stared. Steam hissed off his arm where the water had hit.

Beside him, Annabeth gasped and her hand instantly covered her cheek, where Percy could see steam coming from her fingers.

“We need to get out of here!” Percy said. “Inside!”

He grabbed Annabeth’s hand, and they turned to run. But it was as if the sky had broken open. Torrents of rain burst forth, splattering them, every drop as hot and as burning as the one before.

Percy’s whole body instantly doubled over, searing torrents of pain rushing through him. He felt like he was burning alive.

Annabeth’s hand was still in his grasp. He clutched her fingers, his only saving grace. He tried to move, but it was no use.

He was being burned alive. The last thing he remembered was a flash of light burning across his closed eyelids before everything went dark.

•••

Percy was dreaming. 

He was in what looked to be some sort of cave. It was large and dark, and the air had a musty scent to it like it hadn’t been graced by fresh air in years. He could see the jagged outlines of what looked like large boulders all along what must be the sides of the cave.

The cave was deathly silent except for the very shallow sound of breathing coming from the three people next to him. Annabeth stood directly to his left, her body pressed up against his, her hand clasped tightly in his. To his right were two kids he didn’t know. He couldn’t see much, but he could see their shadows. A girl, with long bushy hair, and a boy with glasses.

From as far as he could tell, there was no entrance and no exit to this large tavern, but Percy felt as though they should move forward, as though the answer to his mission lay before him.

He took one small step forward, tugging Annabeth’s hand. She moved along with him, as did the other two teenagers. 

The four of them kept moving forward, one small step at a time. Nothing happened. The dark cavern loomed before them as silent and still as before.

One step.

Then another.

Then another.

Then another.

Without any warning, a bright white light filled the cave. It seared through Percy’s mind, seeming to consume his whole body. The three others all cried out in pain, but in the split second before Percy closed his eyes, he focused on the other boy in the cave with him.

A scar, a pale pink scar in the shape of a lightening bolt, seemed to glow on the boy’s forehead.

The wizard with the scar.

The light was getting brighter. Percy had to shut his eyes. He heard the other girl cry out, a sound full of pain and terror and despair.

He tried to open his eyes, tried to move to see what was happening, but he felt stuck, blind, mute. He couldn’t do anything.

And then the ground beneath his feet began to move. As though the dirt itself were beginning to rise up on its own.

Percy felt himself slipping, the light still searing into his brain, the other girl’s screams echoing in his ear.

And then, Percy felt his mouth open, heard himself yell, “Harry! Now!” but it was too late.

They were all falling, and there was nothing there to stop them.

•••

Percy’s eyes flew open. The pain had stopped, the screams had stopped, the ground was stable.

In fact, he was lying on something rather soft. A bed. Or a couch.

He blinked. Before he could regain his senses, a girl was shoving a cup of tea into his hands.

A girl with bushy hair. The girl from his dream.

Percy started. He looked around. Annabeth was sitting up on a couch across from him. She looked up and met his eyes, and he knew what he would see when he shifted his gaze.

There, before them, was a boy with a pale red scar across his forehead.

Harry, as he had called him in his dream.

Somehow, Percy and Annabeth had ended up in England.


	5. Chapter 5

[HERMIONE GRANGER]

Professor Trelawny was pretty much the last person Hermione ever wanted to see. It was never good. She was either predicting ghastly horrors or she was dithering on about such nonsense that Hermione wanted to poke her eyes out.

But she definitely didn’t want to see Professor Trelawny in the Gryffindor Common Room when they had two strangers lying on their couches who claimed they were descendents from Greek gods (a story that Hermione was having a hard time wrapping her head around. She had read all the Greek myths, of course, but that’s what they were. Myths. Stories to pass on to future generations to show what happens when one is too proud or too stubborn or does not pay proper respect. Not stories about people who were alive and having children. Certainly not children who someone ended up on the Great Lawn at Hogwarts, a phenomenon Hermione still had trouble explaining. Muggles, or anyone not born to be a witch or wizard, were never supposed to see Hogwarts. There were protections in place. She couldn’t really believe that the war with Lord Voldemort had removed those protections, but what else could it be?)

Above all else, Professor Trelawny seemed even more off today than usual. Her hair was sticking out all over the place, her robes and her jewelry were so out of whack it looked like she had tried getting dressed in the dark only using one arm.

Now, she rushed over to them almost tripping over her robes. 

“Harry Potter!” she cried. “I have been looking for you!”

“Errrr,” Harry looked confused. “You found me.”

He made a move to stand up, but Hermione beat him to it.

“Excuse me, Professor Trelawny,” she started but the divination professor seemed to look right though her.

Hermione frowned.

Something odd was happening.

Professor Trelawny’s eyes seemed glazed over. All of a sudden, her face went slack and her body almost limp, but yet she remained standing. Her mouth opened and a voice that was very much not hers came out.

_New and old shall join together_  
Four shall venture, to now or never  
The darkest one not easily found  
A fate is sealed, lives unbound. 

_A young wizard, a scar he bears_  
Will face the beast if only he dares  
But gods and wands shall work as one  
Only then will the curse be undone 

Professor Trelawny’s mouth snapped shut. The voice stopped. Then the professor crumpled to the floor in front of them.

Luna gave a small shriek. Annabeth and Percy both gasped. Hermione just stared as Neville rushed forward to check on their professor.

“She’s breathing,” he confirmed quickly. “I’ll get Madam Pomfrey!”

Neville took off as Luna took his spot on the floor beside Professor Trelawny, patting her hair as though she were a dog.

Hermione turned to the two strangers in their midst, both who were still watching the whole thing with a look of fear mixed with surprise.

Hermione stared at them both in turn. “You’ve heard that before,” she deduced.

It was Annabeth who nodded. 

“It’s a prophecy,” she said.

Hermione scoffed, but then she realized Annabeth and Percy were serious.

“You believe in this stuff?” she said, frowning.

Annabeth nodded. “It’s how we get all our quests,” she said. 

Hermione was used to taking in a lot of bizarre information but this was beginning to make her head spin.

“Maybe you better start at the beginning,” she said, casting a look at Harry, who still seemed incredibly confused by everything that was happening. He nodded.

Annabeth and Percy began talking.

•••

“So let me get this straight,” Hermione said awhile later. “You really have no idea how you ended up here then?” 

Neville had returned about a half hour ago with Madam Pomfrey and Professor Filch, who had carted Professor Trelawny off to the hospital wing. Luna and Neville had gone along with them, seeming to understand without being told that Hermione and Harry needed to be alone with Annabeth and Percy.

Luckily, neither Madam Pomfrey nor Professor Filch had taken any notice of the two strangers in their midst. Perhaps the after-effects of the war were so much for them that they couldn’t deal with even more problems at the moment. Either way, Hermione was glad. Now, it was just the four of them, her and Harry on one couch and Annabeth and Percy on the other.

Annabeth and Percy both seemed to have recovered from whatever it was that happened to them. They had explained it all — who they were, how they met, a quick recap of the time they had saved the world from some ancient gods, this new prophecy, the burning rain and waking up here.

It sounded fishy. So much so that Hermione was having trouble wrapping her mind around it. She wasn’t sure she trusted these two strangers, or that she even wanted to.

Honestly, she was tired. The past few months had been the hardest of her life, which was saying something since most of the past seven years hadn’t exactly been a picnic. But living in fear every day that you might not make it to the next had given her a kind of exhaustion she had never had before.

All she wanted to do was go to sleep, preferably in the safety of someone else’s arms. Which was another thing making her tired. 

Ron had kissed her. Just yesterday. Sure, he had thought they were going to die, but he had kissed her, and it was supposed to have been what she had been waiting for all along. They had been playing at boyfriend and girlfriend for years now, so it should have sealed the deal. She should be down there with him now, comforting him and his family, helping them all through this tragic time.

But instead she was up here with Harry. Harry, who had snogged her one cold lonely night in the Forest of Dean and made her feel things she had never felt before. Harry, who she had pushed away because she was supposed to be with Ron and she was supposed to want to be with Ron.

But she didn’t want to be down there with Ron. She wanted to be up here with Harry. Harry and these two strangers, who had just told her the most fantastical tale she had ever heard, more fantastical than her own, which in of itself featured hunting Horcruxes and defeating Voldemort — subjects she and Harry had carefully not broached with Annabeth and Percy yet and subjects she wasn’t sure she wanted to broach. After all, Annabeth and Percy had specifically come looking for Harry. Hermione was not about to hand out any information until she was sure she could trust them and ensure their intentions were good. And she was far from sure about either of those things right now.

She focused her thoughts back on Percy and Annabeth. She’d asked before, but she was still unsettled by their lack of knowledge on how they had gotten here. 

But once again, they both shook their heads at her question.

“No idea,” Percy said.

Hermione frowned. How was that even possible? If it were any other witch or wizard, she could maybe explain it away with magic. Except Percy and Annabeth didn’t have that type of magic. Or so they claimed.

“We’re just as confused as you are,” Annabeth said.

Hermione doubted that but she nodded. “But you believe this prophecy?” she said.

Percy and Annabeth nodded.

Hermione sighed and looked at Harry. 

“What do you want to do?” she said.

Harry shrugged. He looked as confused as she felt. 

“You always say books have the answers,” he said. “Maybe we can figure something out there?”


	6. Chapter 6

[HERMIONE GRANGER]

They never made it to the library. In fact, they didn’t even get halfway to the library before the screams started.

At first it was just one. Loud and shrill and coming from outside. Hermione stopped in her tracks, her head turning automatically toward the sound. Harry crashed into her from behind and she stumbled forward into Annabeth.

“Sorry-” she started, when another scream sounded. This one louder, deeper.

For a second Hermione forgot where she was. She wasn’t standing on the stairs in the middle of a destroyed Hogwarts. Instead she was back outside the castle, wand out, taking down every death eater she could see.

More screams tore through the air. Harry pushed passed her and raced down the stairs, taking them two, three, even four at a time. Hermione blinked, then ran after him, Percy and Annabeth following close behind her.

No one else seemed to be in the castle, at least not on the stairs or in the corridors around them. But as they reached the bottom of the steps, they could see a few people grouped around the front door.

Harry shoved his way past them. So did Hermione, Percy and Annabeth.

All four of them came to a standstill on the front stoop, their eyes wide with horror, their mouths open.

All over the lawn people were screaming. Pain-laden, terror-filled screams. But more worrisome than that was their actions. Some people were clawing at their skin — their faces and their arms and their necks — as thought they were being attacked by some invisible force. Others were hunched into balls on the ground, their hands over their heads.

Hermione looked frantically from right to left, searching for the cause. _Nothing_ seemed to attacking these people. There was no one around.

Beside her, Annabeth gasped.

Hermione spun to look at her. Annabeth had gone pale as she stared out onto the lawn.

But what …

Suddenly, Hermione realized. It was raining! Rain was coming down! Rain that had earlier today burned Annabeth and Percy!

Her eyes focused on the people closest to her. Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones. They were on the ground, try to cover themselves. 

As Hermione watched, she saw a drop of water land on Hannah’s hand. A small whisk of smoke seemed to immediately rise from where it had touched her flesh.

Hermione didn’t wait. She darted forward into the burning rain.

A drop landed on her nose and she almost screamed herself. The pain was instant, seeping into her skin, as though she had been struck by fire and not water.

But she didn’t turn back. She raced toward Hannah and Susan, whipping her robe off as she went.

“Come on!” she shouted at them as she got close. “Come with me!”

The girls were too frightened to move, frozen in position on the ground.

Hermione grabbed Hannah’s arm, pulled her up. Hannah’s eyes were wide, wild with panic. Hermione threw her robe over Hannah’s head.

“Run!” she shouted.

For a second, Hannah just stared at her, and then she seemed to realize what Hermione was doing. She shook her head, and helped Hermione hoist Susan to her feet. 

“Run!” Hermione yelled again, but Hannah gripped her arm and pulled her under the cloak as well. Then the three of them took off back toward the castle.

As soon as they reached the steps, Hannah and Susan let go of the robe and slipped out from under it. Hermione instantly took off toward someone else.

As she ran, she saw Harry doing the same thing.

And she saw Percy and Annabeth, too. But they didn’t have robes. She could practically see Annabeth’s pale skin burning as she watched.

Annabeth was hoisting a small girl Hermione didn’t know to her feet, but their eyes met.

“Just go!” Annabeth yelled, and Hermione had no choice. She raced past Annabeth to the people still out on the lawn.

•••

 

“Hold still,” Hermione whispered. “I’m almost done.”

She pointed her wand at the last few spots of red on Annabeth’s arm and uttered the incantation Madam Pomfrey had told her to try. Instantly the wounds healed up, leaving Annabeth’s skin blemish-free.

Hermione turned her head to see how Harry was faring with Percy. Harry was bent over, a look of intense concentration on his face, but Percy’s arm was a lot less red than it had been, so it must have been working.

Hermione turned back to Annabeth and smiled.

“All done,” she said. “How do you feel?”

Annabeth frowned. “Tingly,” she said. “But better. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Hermione reached over to put the cap back on the ointment Madam Pomfrey had also given them. It had reduced the pain until the wounds could be closed.

“You thought we might have done it, didn’t you?”

Annabeth’s voice broke into Hermione’s thoughts, soft and gentle, completely non-accusing. Hermione felt a flush of heat rise into her cheeks.

“Of course not,” she said, but she didn’t dare look at Annabeth.

“It’s okay if you did,” Annabeth said. “I would have thought the same if I were you.”

Hermione finally looked up. “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just …”

“It’s just we’re two strangers who appeared out of nowhere and told you we need your help and you don’t know if you can trust us.”

Hermione couldn’t help it. She let out a soft laugh.

“Yes,” she said. “Exactly.”

“I wish we could give you more information to help prove to you …”

This time Hermione broke in. “You don’t need to prove anything to me.”

“But …”

“But you and Percy risked your lives to help save our friends. You wouldn’t have done that if you weren’t here to help.”

“So you trust us?”

“I trust you. I think Harry does too.”

Hermione cast a glance over at the boys. She could tell Harry was getting close to finishing. 

“I just don’t know where to go from here,” Hermione said quietly. And she didn’t. For once in her life, she had no plan. And it was frustrating her beyond belief.

Beside her, Annabeth was nodding. 

“Me neither,” she said. “Me neither.”


	7. Chapter 7

[ANNABETH CHASE]

Annabeth didn’t sleep well that night. Every time she closed her eyes, she was in a cave. It was large and dark and outlined with giant boulders, and she knew without a doubt it was the cave that Percy and Harry had dreamed about earlier.

They’d had a lot of time to talk, after dinner but before bed, and it had come out. The fact that Percy had dreamed about Harry and Hermione before they’d even met them. The fact that Harry had dreamed about them right before they had shown up under a tree. It just proved even more that they were meant to do this together.

The only thing it didn’t prove was where they were supposed to do this thing. Here at Hogwarts? Somewhere else? Chiron had said London, and they weren’t exactly close to there now. To be fair, Annabeth wasn’t entirely sure where they were, but she knew it was most definitely not in the middle of a city.

But she wasn’t thinking about any of that as she dreamed. Instead she was waiting. For the blinding white light and for the fall.

And also for the others.

Percy and Harry had said all four of them were together, but Annabeth was alone.

“Come closer,” said a voice out of the darkness.

It was coming from in front of her. It was low and gravely and she wasn’t actually sure it was even speaking English, but she could understand it anyway. 

She moved toward it.

“Come closer,” the voice said again, and it was almost like it was pulling her toward it just by its sound.

She moved forward again.

“You know where I am,” the voice said.

She didn’t though. She narrowed her eyes and tried to see through the dark but she couldn’t even make out an outline of anything that wasn’t a rock.

“I’m waiting for you,” the voice said.

She took another step, and then it happened. 

A bright white light lit up the whole cave. She draped her arms over her head, shielding her eyes. It didn’t help, though. The light was still piercing. It seemed to go through her arms, through her eyelids, straight into her soul.

It was so bright, so penetrating.

Pain filled her head, wrapping her in its arms, suffocating her.

She tried to scream but nothing came out. She was frozen, standing there bathed in a deadly light in the middle of a cave.

And then the ground tilted, as though the earth itself had gone off its axis.

She lost her balance, went crashing to the ground, but then she was sliding. The ground kept tilting, and she kept falling.

She opened her mouth and screamed, and this time there was sound.

She screamed again.

The world rocked.

She screamed once more.

The world rocked harder.

Her eyes flew open just as her bed was lifted on to its side. She flew off, crashing into the wall.

She screamed again, not sure if she was awake or asleep.

Then she heard Hermione scream, and the castle titled wildly.

They were having an earthquake!

She screamed again as something flew toward her. She didn’t have time to see what it was. It hit her straight in the head, and everything went dark.

•••

She woke up to something wet and cool being pressed against her temple and a pair of soft fingers stroking the inside of her wrist. A moan she couldn’t stop escaped from her mouth and she heard Percy whisper that she was okay.

She opened her eyes and blinked until the blur of colors formed into shapes. Hermione was sitting on her left, holding an ice pack to her head. Percy was on her right, rubbing her hand.

She licked her lips and tried to swallow, searching for her voice. Finally, she found it.

“Was that an earthquake?” she asked. She gestured to Hermione and Percy that she wanted to sit up, and together they helped her.

Both Percy and Hermione nodded.

“But I didn’t think you had those here,” Annabeth said.

“We don’t.” 

Harry’s voice came from above her head. She looked upward until she saw him.

“So that was …”

“Probably whatever made it rain then,” Harry said.

“Great,” Annabeth said. “Acid rain and horrible earthquakes and no clue as to how or what or where to go to stop them.”

“Actually that’s not true.” Hermione took her hand off the ice pack and turned around, fiddling for something behind her. When she turned back, there was a book in her hands.

“This hit you,” she said, holding it out to Annabeth.

Annabeth frowned. It looked like a children’s book from the cover.

“A book?” she asked.

“A book I have never seen before,” Hermione clarified. “A book that doesn’t belong to Hogwarts.”

“How do you know that?” Annabeth asked.

Hermione flipped it open. Inside the front cover was the scribbled handwriting of a child. 

Annabeth leaned closer, but there was no need. The color drained from her face as she confirmed what it said.

“This book belongs to Annabeth Chase.”

“That’s not possible,” Annabeth said, but even as she said it, she felt stupid. They had just been attacked by fire rain and had been thrown around by an earthquake. How was a childhood book she didn’t even remember having but was definitely written on in her handwriting not possible?

She reached out to touch the inscription. She could feel the bumps of the ink beneath her fingers.

“I don’t understand,” she said.

Hermione gently took the book away from Annabeth. She flipped through the pages until she came to the end. Then she held it back out to her.

She had turned to the very last page and was pointing at the very last sentence.

Annabeth read aloud. “Everything the girl wanted was in London.”

In her mind a voice echoed. “You know where I am.”

“London,” she said weakly. “We’re going to London?”

Percy squeezed her hand. “We’re going to London.”


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight  
[ANNABETH CHASE]

She definitely could say that a ride on a magical train was a first for her. Sometimes, with all she had seen and all she had done in her life, she wasn’t sure there were any firsts left, but then things like suddenly being transported to a magical school in England and saving people who were actual witches and wizards from a burning rain and then being knocked unconscious by your own childhood book in a freak earthquake happened and she realized there were lots of firsts left, but most of them weren’t good.

Except sometimes they were. Like this magical train.

It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in magic. Percy had a form of magic. The gods had a lot of magic. Other kids at Camp Half-Blood had little bits of magic. But here, sitting with Harry and Hermione, they had real, true magic. They waved wands and said spells and could make things move. Annabeth was fascinated.

She made Harry show her all sorts of spells. He changed his glasses into a mug for her and then changed them back. He changed her shirt from orange to green. He even lifted her a few inches off the ground.

And then there was the candy. The lady with the trolley passed by their compartment, and Harry flagged her down. Now their seats had chocolate frogs bouncing all over the place, and Annabeth had a pile of the truly most disgusting jellybeans she had ever had in her life. She also had what looked like a lollipop that Harry had warned her never to eat because it would burn through her tongue. She believed him and vowed to take it home. You never knew when you might need to feed it to some unsuspecting monster.

It was nice to have a moment to have fun with their new acquaintances and not have to worry about dying. And it was fun to be on a train that people like her and Percy weren’t ever supposed to see.

“Muggles” was what Harry and Hermione called them. But Annabeth and Percy weren’t normal humans either. 

The magical train they were on, the Hogwarts Express as Harry and Hermione called it, wasn’t supposed to be operating now, they had told them. But because of the war the wizarding world had just gone through and because Hogwarts needed to be rebuilt, the train was running on a constant schedule to and from the school.

They were on the night train. Only a few other people were as well, so they mostly had it all to themselves. And the few other people they had seen had barely glanced in Percy and Annabeth’s direction.

It was late, though, and they still had a few hours to go. Percy and Hermione had both fallen asleep and Harry looked like he was ready to doze off too. But Annabeth felt like her brain was moving too fast to sleep.

She excused herself to Harry, told him she needed to go get a glass of water, and slipped out of the compartment. The hallway was quiet and empty, which she was glad of. She just wanted to be able to walk and not worry about running into anyone.

Her mind spun as she walked, going over everything that had happened since they’d arrived. They had spent the day researching London and discussing options of where they thought they should go. Harry was convinced they needed to go to the Ministry of Magic, which he said was in downtown London, and no one else had a reason to doubt him.

Annabeth had no idea what would be waiting for them there or even if they would find what they were looking for. But what other choice did they have?

She kept walking the hallway of the train, absorbed in her thoughts, going over all the scenarios she could dream of and analyzing all the information she had. She didn’t even see the woman until she walked right into her.

The woman was clothed in a purple dress, her blonde hair piled on her head. But it was her piercing grey eyes that went straight to Annabeth’s soul.

“Mom,” she whispered.

Athena smiled. “Hello, dear.”

Annabeth looked around, making sure no one was around. “What are you doing here?” she hissed. 

“A mother cannot stop by to see her daughter?”

Annabeth raised a brow. She wanted to point out that her mother almost never in her whole entire life had stopped by to see her and that most mothers would not be able to just board a magical train to see their children, but she didn’t. 

Athena shook her head. “Okay, fine,” she said. “I wanted to give you something.”

“You wanted to give me something?” Annabeth repeated. “Like a gift.”

“Like a piece of advice.”

“Okay,” she said.

Athena leaned close to Annabeth, her lips brushing her ear. 

“Trust Harry,” she whispered. “And when the time comes, take Hermione’s hand.”

She pulled back. “You can do this,” she said. And then she was gone, leaving Annabeth gawking at where she had been.

Annabeth looked around, but the hallway was clear. So were the nearest compartments. It was so like her mother to come in, ramble a few things at her and leave without really helping.

Trust Harry. Yeah, she had figured that out on her own. And take Hermione’s hand?

“Gee, thanks, Mom, for the advice,” Annabeth muttered under her breath as she headed back to her compartment. “You’ve really helped clear things up.”


	9. Chapter 9

[HARRY POTTER]

Harry was dreaming again. He was in the same cave, just as before. It was as large as he remembered it, but this time it wasn’t dark. This time it was full of white light. But not the painful, blinding light of before. More a soft, inviting light.

He looked around the cave. It went on and on and on and he could see no end. He could see no entrance either. Along the edges he could see massive boulders.

He was alone. Hermione, Percy and Annabeth were nowhere to be seen.

Except he wasn’t alone.

Harry squinted. Far, far away he could just make out a figure against the bright white light. The figure was tall and thin and somehow Harry knew he should not be afraid. 

He headed toward the figure, moving slowly but steadily, not nervous or fearful or anything. Just calm.

The figure began to move toward him, too. Harry could see it taking slow, steady steps, almost matching his own. 

They drew closer together. Harry’s face broke out into a smile.

_Dumbledore._

“Hello, Harry,” the figure of Dumbledore said as soon as they were close enough to see each other’s facial features. It looked like Dumbledore. It sounded like Dumbledore. The fingers of the figure tapped on his robe the very way Dumbledore’s once had.

“Is that really you?” Harry asked. 

“Is anything really real, dear boy?” Dumbledore replied, and a sense of peace spread through Harry. This Dumbledore even talked like the real Dumbledore.

“Do you know why you are here?” Dumbledore asked him. 

Harry nodded. “We need to stop whatever is causing all this terror.”

“Do you know why?” Dumbledore asked him.

Harry shook his head and opened his mouth to say no, but then he paused. 

“You know why,” Dumbledore said, and this time Harry nodded.

“It happened when Lord Voldemort died,” Harry said, and pieces seemed to click in his mind like a puzzle coming together. “Something was released into the world that needs our powers combined with the powers of the gods to be destroyed.”

“And you know where,” Dumbledore said. 

Harry nodded again. He could picture it in his mind.

“The Department of Mysteries,” Harry said, and Dumbledore smiled. 

“Good luck, dear boy,” he said. He turned around and began to walk away.

Wait. He couldn’t leave!

“No!” Harry cried out. “Don’t go!”

Harry tried to run toward Dumbledore, but his feet seemed stuck in place.

“Dumbledore!” he screamed, but the figure didn’t turn around.

“Dumbledore!” he screamed again, but it was too late. Dumbledore was gone. Harry looked down at his feet. They were bathed in a glowing white light.

Harry knew what that was. He tried to jerk his feet away, but they wouldn’t move. The glowing white light soared up his legs, up his body, growing more white and more blinding by the second. 

Harry screamed, and woke up.


	10. Chapter 10

[PERCY JACKSON]

Harry was on a mission, and Percy didn’t have too much choice but to follow him. It felt weird, not being the one in charge, but they were in a different world now, and he was out of his element. And on top of that, not more than ten seconds after Harry woke up and declared that he knew what they had to do, there was Annabeth nodding along and agreeing that he did, like she was suddenly his new personal cheerleader.

If Percy didn’t know better, he would be taking those magic jellybeans to an analyst to see what in the heck was in them because he was worried it was some sort of brainwashing thing.

Even Hermione had shrugged at the two of them and glanced at Percy with a “Well, do you have any better ideas?” look, but of course he didn’t, so here they were, creeping through the so-called Ministry of Magic.

It was a little unnerving, being in a place that humans couldn’t see. Percy knew all about the Mist and how powerful it was, but to not even see a whole building at all? He didn’t really understand how that worked, but there was no time to dwell on it now. Harry was walking through the building like there was a fire and he was the only one who could put it out.

Percy thought he should probably be more nervous about this whole expedition, but so far, things had been rather smooth. No one stopped them on their way in, and of the few people who were around, no one even glanced at them as they hurried along. 

And then they got to the Cave Room, tucked away in some far corner — well, at least Percy thought it was a far corner. He actually wasn’t sure. They could have been going in circles for all he knew — of the Department of Mysteries.

They walked through the door, and Percy felt his breath leave his body. It looked exactly like his dream. 

They were no longer in a building. Instead, they were in that large dark cave and the air had that same musty scent to it that he had smelled in his dream, but this time it felt less like stale sea air and more like it was weighted down with evil. He squinted his eyes to try and see through the dark and he could just make out the large boulders all along what must be the sides of the cave.

No one spoke. All Percy could hear was the shallow breathing of the three people with him. Annabeth to his left, Harry to his right and Hermione to his right.

The way they had entered was behind them, but Percy had a feeling if he turned around, it would be gone. They had to move forward. There was no other way.

He reached for Annabeth’s hand and took one small step forward, tugging her along. Beside him, Harry pulled on Hermione.

The four of them kept moving forward, one small step at a time. Nothing happened. Yet. But Percy knew it was coming. 

One step.

Then another.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw both Harry and Hermione hold out their wands, their other hands still clasped together. Percy wished he had a wand. He felt Annabeth grip him harder. 

They took another step.

Then another.

Then another.

And then it happened.

A bright white light flooded the cave. It was every bit as painful as he’d dreamed it would be. It seared through Percy’s mind, as though trying to consume his whole body. The three others all cried out in pain, but in the split second before Percy closed his eyes, he focused on Harry.

In the dark of the cave, the pale pink scar on Harry’s forehead almost seemed to glow.

The light was getting brighter. Percy’s eyes closed. He heard Hermione scream.

He wanted to move, but he couldn’t. His feet felt stuck, his voice vanished. He sensed evil bearing down on them.

And then the ground beneath his feet began to move. Percy slipped. The light seared into his brain. Hermione’s screams echoed in his ear.

It was time. Percy closed his eyes and fought against the light as hard as he could. 

“Harry! Now!” he screamed.

The room tilted, and they began to fall. Next to him, he saw a wand wave, but nothing happened.

They were all falling, and there was nothing there to stop them.

But there had to be something.

Percy flung his arm out, grasping for anything, and then he felt it. A thin, hard, supple piece of wood in his palm.

Harry’s wand.

This was it.

“Try it again!” Percy screamed at Harry. He closed his eyes, focused not on falling but on soaring, on the feeling of rising up.

On his other side, Annabeth’s hand was suddenly ripped away from his.

He opened his eyes, clawing for her, but then he saw her. She was reaching for Hermione.

That was it.

He held tighter on to Harry’s wand. The room rocked again.

“Now!” Percy screamed.

And together, the four of them focused every ounce of magic they had in one direction. It was their only hope.

•••

The ride back to Hogwarts was quiet. Annabeth played with her chocolate frogs, Percy stroked her hand, Harry looked out the window and Hermione slept with her head on Harry’s shoulder.

“You didn’t need to come back with us,” Harry said at one point. He turned to look at Percy and Annabeth. He looked a bit worse for wear, as Percy guessed he did too. But Harry looked at peace. Percy felt that way as well.

“Yes, we did,” Annabeth said, and she looked at Percy and laughed. 

Harry frowned. “You did?”

“Of course,” Annabeth said. “We got here by magic. We don’t really have a way back home.”

Harry laughed. “How are you going to get back to America?” he asked.

Percy shrugged. “We’re hoping you can help us figure that out he said,” he said. “But if not, we might just have to stay with you forever.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Harry said.

“Yeah,” Percy said. “It doesn’t.”

And it didn’t. Not at all.


End file.
